Sixers' World B. Free comes to Trenton CYO

TRENTON — World B. Free isn’t in the CYO Hall of Fame. Maybe he should be.

The former NBA star made what has become an annual visit to the city with the 76ers Summer Hoops Tour Thursday, putting on a clinic for about 350 summer camp kids at the CYO Broad Street facility.

On a wall inside the old RKO Broad Theater, plaques honor former standouts who played CYO basketball, refereed basketball or made special contributions.

Names like Fred Falchi, Jack Adams, Mark Bass, Nick Werkman, Ron Payton, Bryan Caver, Kelly Williams and Kate Larkin are among the names attached in silver.
World, as he’s been known since his days growing up in Brooklyn, certainly has been a special contributor to the city’s CYO people, having now come to town to inform, motivate and instruct and entertain kids for about 10 years.

“He’s amazing,” longtime Mercer County CYO Executive Director Tom Mlandenetz said above the din of Free’s voice over the microphone, as campers sat before him on the gym floor. “It’s more of a show than a clinic. He’s the community goodwill ambassador.”

Free, who Philadelphia selected with the 23rd pick in the 1975 NBA Draft, last played in the league in 1988. But, like anyone who wouldn’t forget how to ride a bicycle, Free showed off his jump-shooting skills yesterday. Each swish was a reminder of how he averaged more than 20 points a game in the pros, scoring just under 18,000 points.

“I can still shoot the basketball,” he said with a big smile, beads of sweat boiling on his bald head. “But I can shoot better with people on me. I’ve always been a contact player. You leave me open and I’ll probably miss that shot. But if you’re on me, I’m gonna make that shot.”

He was a big hit with the kids, as were his “assistant coaches,” a half dozen or so high school/college interns with the Sixers.

They dazzled with gymnastic feats and break dancing, and one guy kept six basketballs bouncing at once.

Free alternately sent messages about the benefits of education, staying in school and staying away from drugs — doing the right things.

Campers were between kindergarten and seventh grade.

“My core message,” Free said, “is you can do anything you want to do if you set your mind to it.

“I always tell these guys, ‘You gotta be leaders, not followers. All the followers do is get you in trouble.

“If you are somebody with a strong mind, stay with it. Don’t let somebody tell you you can’t do something.”

That was a message Free struggled with growing up in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn.

“The atmosphere I grew up in, you mostly were not going to succeed, the 59-year-old said. “As a teen you had to join a gang, and if you didn’t join a gang, you had to be initiated, or everyday somebody would beat (you up).

“I got pulled in one time, and it was a sad moment for me. I saw some things at a young age, 11 or 12, that I really wouldn’t want to talk about.”

Eventually he saw his future on the playgrounds — specifically the 284th park in his neighborhood. That’s where the nickname emerged. A friend started calling him World due to his vertical leaps and 360-degree dunks.

“You wanna find World, you find World in the park,” he said with a laugh. “People would say I was the Pied Piper; always telling stories. I always got a story to tell.

“I became a legend in the park,” he said, “and then a legend in the NBA. God blessed me with a heck of a talent. So I always said, if I do anything it would be ‘World B. Free.’ I wish the world could be free some day. I may not save the world, but I might save one or two people. And that’s all I can do.”

World spreads his word at playgrounds, schools, camps, children’s hospitals — wherever young minds might be receptive to inspiration.